Loom having stationary weft supplies



May 15, 1934. w. POOL LOOK HAVING STATIONARY WEFT SUPPLIES Filed Dec. 12

WILLIAM POOL Y Inventor.v Xornefl Patented May 15, 1934 UNITED STATES FFlCE LOOM HAVING STATIONARY WEFT SUPPLIES Application December 12, 1931, Serial No. 580,61 In Great Britain February 6, 1931 I 7 Claims. (Cl. 139 122) This invention relates to looms in which weft to be inserted into the warps is taken from a stationary supply, i. e. a supply which does not pass through the shed, and more especially to such looms in which the weft is drawn from the supply into loop form at the side of the loom and then presented to a dummy shuttle or other inserting device for insertion into the shed. In

10 particular, the invention relates to weft loop forming means for such looms comprising a hook,

. peg, roller or other weft-engaging member which travels so as to engage weft held by a trapping device and draw it into loop form of the requisite length for insertion into the shed. It is most convenient to mount such travelling member on a chain or other flexible and preferably endless band (hereafter referred to as a chain) carried by suitable pulleys or sprockets, an endless chain enabling loops, even of long length, to

be formed in quick succession, while keeping the rate at which Weft is drawn from the supply package to a very low rate, particularly if the apparatus described in U. S. application S. No. 585,479 filed Jan. 8, 1932, corresponding to British application No. 3895/31 filed 6th February,

. 1931, is employed. It is inevitable, however, that the chain is subject to a certain amount of vibration, particularly when the loom is designed to operate at high speed. The vibration of the chain, if transmitted to the travelling member, may, especially if the weft is released from the travelling member by deflectingthe chain, be such as to render uncertain the exact time of release as the travelling member is deflected, causing premature or late release of the bight of the loop from the traveling member, and even producing variations in the length of the loop.

An object of the invention is, therefore, to control the engagement of the weft by the travelling member at any point in its travel, but especially just before and at the point of release of the loop, whether such release takes place by F deflection of the chain or otherwise.

' According to the present invention vibration of the travelling member is prevented by the provision of guides adapted to control the path of the travelling member or of the chain. These guides which may be simply constituted by a slot 0 or slots in a plate or other member mounted alongside the run of the chain, are so arranged as to direct the travelling member along the required path. The slots, which may be arranged only along such run or runs of the chain where accurate guiding of the travelling member is required, are adapted to be engaged by a projection or projections on the travelling member or chain. These'projections may have the form, for example, of pins or rollers mounted on the chain adjacent 'to' the travelling member, or may form part of or be carried by the means by which thetravelling member is mounted on the chain. Thus the chain, or at any rate the travelling member, is forced to follow the path determined by the guides, and vibration is prevented. g

The guides may continue only as far as the point where the travelling member is deflected to release the loop, usually by carrying the chain round a sprocket pulley of fairly small diameter, or they may be so arranged as actually to control the time and position of release of the loop from the travelling member and to render these independent'of the passing of the travelling member over thesprocket. This movement given to the travelling member, by means of the guide may be such that the weft is released from the member immediately before the chain and H travelling member pass around the'sprocket, just as the chain is passing over the sprocket, or even at a point remote from the sprocket. y The invention is applicable to all types of loom in which a loop of weft is formed by ach ain carrying a travelling member which draws the weft from a stationary supply, the loop of weft so formed being of sufficient length for one or two picks, and, though not limited to use in looms employing such method of insertion, is particularly applicable to the loom described in U. S. application s. No. 484,785 filed 27th September, 1930 having weft loop forming and measuring means comprising trapping devices which are movable so as successively to occupy positions in which weft can be engaged by a travelling member so as to be drawn into a loop. v 5

' The invention will now be described ingreater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, but it is to be understood that the following description is given by way of example only, and

is in no way limitative. ,Y

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows inside elevation the general arrangement of Weft loop forming means provided with a guide for the travelling members that draw the weft loops; v

Fig. 2 a section view of a detail of Fig. 1. 1

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 show details of a guide and loop releasing mechanism; and

Figs. 6 and '7 show details of a tunnel.

Referring to Fig.1, 9 is an endless chain driven by a sprocket 10 and passing round guide sprockets '11 and 12 and a 'tensioning sprocket 13. The sprocket 12 drives through gears 14 a shaft-16 simple guide which in turn drives a shaft 17 through gears 18. Bevel gears 19 enable the shat 17 to drive a disc 20 carrying a pair of trapping devices 21 which serve to present weft to pegs 22 carried by the chain 9, in the manner described in U. S. application S. No. 484,785 or U. S. application S. No. 585,479 corresponding to British application No. 3895/31 filed 6th February, 1931. Weft is thus drawn out into a loop and carried along the downward run of the chain 9 under the guard 23 of a housing 24 surrounding the sprocket 10 to a point near the sprocket 11.

In order to control the path of the chain accurately just prior to it reaching the sprocket 11, a guide tunnel 25 is arranged to embrace a pin 26 extending from one side of the chain 9. The tunnel 25 may extend part way round the curved path followed by the chain round the sprocket 11, as shown in Fig. 1, or it may terminate as the chain reaches the sprocket, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 so as to guide the chain up to the point at which it engages the sprocket. In the latter case, the tension in the chain is relied on to cause the chain to follow the sprocket closely. Release of the weft-loop is effected by the turning of the chain about the sprocket 11, the peg 22 having a height approximately equal to the radius of the sprocket, so that it turns upon itself at a point in line with the axis of the sprocket. Vibration of the chain being prevented by the tunnel 25, release of the weft cannot be effected prematurely but must take place as the peg 22 turns. The position of the sprocket 11 may be adjustable to afford regulation of the length of travel of the peg 22 between the trapping devices 21 and the point of release.

The loop may be formed either by a single peg 22 or by a pair of pegs 27 carried by a bracket 28 extending from the side of the chain opposite to the tunnel 25.

Instead of the point of release of the weft loop being determined by a turning of the peg round the sprocket 11, the chain may be guided by means of a roller 29 on a pin 30 of the bracket carrying the peg 22, the pin 30 extending through the pivot of one of the chain links and engaging a slot 31 in a guide member 32. An upwardly extending arm 33 of the pin 30 carries a second roller 34 entering a second slot 35 in the member 32. A spring 36 normally urges the member 33 in the direction of chain travel to a vertical position but when the rollers 29, 34 pass along the slots 31, 35, the movement of the roller 34 down the slot 35 as shown in Fig. 4 rocks the arm 33 and brings it to a horizontal position. Consequently, the pin 30 is turned in its pivot to bring the peg 22 to a horizontal position so that the weft-loop is released from the peg. The guide member is so positioned with respect to the chain 9 that 'release of the weft takes place after the required travel of the peg 22, release being, of course, independent of the position of the sprocket 11.

When, as described in U. S. application S. No. 484,785 and U. S. application S. No. 585,479 corresponding to British application No. 3895/31 filed 6th February, 1931, weft-loop forming and measuring means are provided on each side of the loom, guide means as above described may be provided in connection with each of such means.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A loom having a stationary weft supply, said loom comprising a chain or other flexible member carrying weft-loop drawing means, a guide slot, and means on said chain or other flexible member adapted to engage said guide slot so as to reduce the vibration of said chain or other member and thereby to control the path of the loop-drawing means.

2. A loom having a stationary weft supply, said loom comprising a chain or other flexible member carrying weft-loop drawing means, a sprocket about which the chain or other member passes to cause release of the weft-loop, a guide slot, and means on the said chain or other flexible member adapted to engage said slot so as to reduce the vibration of the chain or other member and thereby to control the path of the loop drawing means.

3. A loom having a stationary weft supply, said loom comprising a chain or other flexible member having weft-loop drawing means, a sprocket about which the chain or other member passes to cause release of the weft loop, a guide slot terminating close to said sprocket, and said slot being adapted to engage the chain or other flexible member so as to reduce the vibration thereof and thereby to control the path of the loop-drawing means up to the point at which the chain or other member engages the sprocket.

4. A loom having a stationary weft supply, said loom comprising a chain or other flexible member carrying weft-loop drawing means, said loop-drawing means being pivotally mounted on said chain or other flexible member, a guide slot, 105 and means connected to the loop drawing means adapted to'engage said slot so as to control the path of the loop-drawing means, said slot being adapted to rock the loop-drawing means about its pivot to cause release of the weft-loop.

5. A loom having a stationary weft supply, said loop comprising a chain carrying a link-pivot, a bracket rotatably mounted on said link-pivot, loop-drawing means carried by said bracket, guide means connected to said bracket, and means cooperating with said guide means to control the movement of said bracket and adapted to efiect a rotation of said bracket about its pivot to effect release of the weft-loop from the loop-drawing means carried by said bracket.

6. A loom having a stationary weft supply, said loom comprising a chain carrying a link-pivot, a bracket rotatably mounted on said link-pivot, loop-drawing means carried by said bracket, two guide members projecting from said chain and 5 connected to said bracket, means adapted to engage and guide said members at a predetermined part of the path of the chain so as to rotate said bracket about its pivot and thereby to effect and control the release of the weft-loop 130 from the loop-drawing means on the bracket.

'7. A loom having a stationary weft supply, said loom comprising a chain carrying a link-pivot, a bracket rotatably mounted on said link-pivot, loop-drawing means carried by said bracket, two guide members projecting from said chain and connected to said bracket, one guide member being in line with the said pivot and the other guide member being radially disposed with respect thereto, and two guide slots adapted to engage said members respectively so as to control the movement of said bracket, one guide slot being so formed at a predetermined point along the path of the chain as to rotate the one guide member about the pivot and thereby to effect a rotation of the bracket and the release of the weftloop from the drawing means carried by the bracket.

WILLIAM POOL. 

